Alabama football’s biggest rivalry also has the largest stakes of the 2025 season. When the Crimson Tide visits Auburn on Saturday for Kalen DeBoer’s first road Iron Bowl, it will need a win in order to clinch a spot in the SEC championship game and keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive.

Saturday’s game is scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT at Jordan-Hare Stadium and will be aired on ABC. Before the game begins, here is what the Tide must do to secure the win.

Don’t get got

Alabama is better than Auburn. That hasn’t always mattered in the Iron Bowl, but it will be important for the Crimson Tide to not get in its own head about the trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“We understand it’s going to be a great experience there, and it’ll be one where we’re facing a team that wants to knock us off our goals and our hopes and all that,” DeBoer said Monday. “But you’ve really got to simplify it down. You’ve got to prepare. Prepare for the noise, prepare for the emotions that come, and that’s what our season’s done for us.

“We’ve been through a lot of that, and again, there’ll be new challenges that present themselves in the game, and a lot of it will be a new matchup, guys that have different people in front of them, strengths and weaknesses of the opponent, every single week changes. We’re just going to prepare our best, focus on what we do because that’s what we’ve done all season long to go out there and be our best on Saturday.”

Nick Saban has said that he thinks the stadium is haunted. Even if that’s true, Alabama still needs to prepare for the game like any other, and avoid the kind of road struggles against unranked teams that have defined the DeBoer era so far.

Be ready for all quarterback options

When Auburn’s season started, Jackson Arnold was its starting quarterback. After he struggled, Ashton Daniels took over the starting role.

When the Tigers wanted to preserve Daniels redshirt, true freshman Deuce Knight got the nod against Mercer last week. Now, Alabama is left to wonder which of the group it will see throughout Saturday’s game.

“All of their quarterbacks can run the ball, and so we’ve got to do a really good job, just from a physicality standpoint, up front, getting off the blocks when they’re trying to create a one-plus offensive system, and they get RPOs off of it,” defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. “So they’re going to stretch you enough to where you can’t just load the box every single play. And so some guys got to get off the blocks and make plays. So that’s one of the things that you know that we have to do.”

Still, multiple quarterbacks are difficult to deal with, even if they have somewhat similar skill sets. Auburn can keep the Crimson Tide guessing to some extent, and UA has had trouble stopping mobile quarterbacks throughout the year.

But if Alabama is up to that challenge, it should be in good shape.

Deal with the defensive front

It’s been a rough year for Auburn. But one bright spot throughout the season has been the defensive front.

Kadyn Proctor didn’t mince words when talking about the challenge of facing the unit when speaking to reporters on Tuesday.

“Just them as players, it’s a motherf—–,” the Crimson Tide offensive tackle said. “I mean, that’s all it comes down to. It’s hard. It;’s an SEC game. I mean, this is what it is, we play tough fronts all the time and just gotta get prepared for this one throughout the week.”

It’s possible that the Tiger secondary doesn’t have the talent to keep up with Alabama’s wide receivers. However, if it can get to Ty Simpson, not to mention stop the Tide’s usually-ineffective run game Auburn could have chance.

Alabama’s offensive line will play a key role in Saturday’s game. If it can neutralize Auburn’s greatest strength, the Crimson Tide should roll.